The Horrors of an African-American Mental Asylum

Heroes Behind Headlines

In 1911, experts believed that the psychology of different races was distinct, and so, like other states, the state of Maryland founded Crownsville, a mental asylum administered by an all-white doctor and nursing staff expressly and exclusively for African-Americans.
From her book "Madness," author/Peabody Award-winning journalist/on-air NBC correspondent Antonia Hylton describes how the physical building was built through the labor of actual patients; how many African-Americans over the years were wrongfully sent to Crownsville, and how its medical practices didn’t expect patients would ever leave, let alone be healed. Hylton walks us through the dubious history of this institution, and the dramatic hiring of its first African-American staff.
Crownsville ultimately closed its doors only in 2004.

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
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Capíttulos

1. The Horrors of an African-American Mental Asylum (00:00:00)

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3. (Cont.) The Horrors of an African-American Mental Asylum (00:13:53)